The Preakness Stakes is an American flat thoroughbred horse race held on the third Saturday in May each year at Pimlico Race Course in Baltimore, Maryland. It is a Grade I race run over a distance of 9.5 furlongs (1 3⁄16 miles (1,900 m)) on dirt. Colts and geldings carry 126 pounds (57 kg); fillies 121 lb (55 kg). It is the second jewel of the Triple Crown, held two weeks after the Kentucky Derby and three weeks before the Belmont Stakes.

First run in 1873, the Preakness Stakes was named by a former Maryland governor after a winning colt at Pimlico. The race has been termed "The Run for the Black-Eyed Susans" because a blanket of yellow flowers altered to resemble Maryland's state flower is placed across the withers of the winning colt or filly. Attendance at the Preakness Stakes ranks second in North America among equestrian events, only surpassed by the Kentucky Derby.

The 145th running of the Preakness Stakes is tentatively scheduled for Saturday, October 3, 2020, a delay resulting from the COVID-19 outbreak earlier in the year, and setting the year's contest following four weeks after the also-delayed Kentucky Derby.

At its inauguration in 1873, the Preakness carried a value of $1,000. The first major increase occurred in 1919 when the race had a $25,000 value. It climbed to $100,000 in 1946 and in 1959 was raised to $150,000. Subsequent increases occurred from 1979 to 1989, when the purse rose four times from $200,000 to $500,000, before going to $1 million in 1997. On December 12, 2013, the Maryland Jockey Club announced for the 2014 running of the Preakness, the purse would be increased from $1,000,000 to $1,500,000.

Preakness Stakes Betting Key Terms

Blind Bet - A bet made by a racetrack bookmaker on another horse to divert other bookmakers' attention away from his sizeable betting on his/her main horse thus to avoid a shortening of the odds on the main horse.

Dog - The underdog in any betting proposition.

Entry - A horse entered in a race is called an entry.

Furlong - One-eighth of a mile or 220 yards. Races are measured in furlongs.

Morning Line - Approximate odds printed in the program and posted before betting begins. This is a forecast of how the morning linemaker believes wagering will occur In a particular race.